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A Reason to Stay
Imagawa leaned against the gates of the village. The Village Hidden in the Leaves, the home of countless clans including his own. Founded by them and the Senju, a rivalry was put to rest that had for a long time plagued the world. However, after the village was abandoned by Madara, the rivalry was began anew, except it occurred between him and Hashirama. It was because of this abandonment that Ima's ancestry had survived, due to his ancestor's loyalty to the former. They returned to the village only after having heard of the massacre, looking for the one responsible for it. Settling back down, they integrated back into Konoha society. Yet Ima found himself at a crossroads, knowing himself to be weaker then his formidable ancestor and other standouts from the revived Uchiha Clan. It was something that made him actively wonder about leaving the village. After all, he was a traveler at heart. Ima sighed, the wind rustling his dark hair while the sun glinted off his onyx eyes. He was deemed very attractive by most of his fellow shinobi, particularly the kunoichi of the village. But it wasn't enough for him, for it could be said he had just reached the tipping point of the power hungry curse of hatred. "Thank you, have a nice day!" Echoed the voice of Konohagakure's famed kunoichi, renowned as the Sayuri Senju. Sayuri waved goodbye to the shop keeper, holding the pink grocery bag at her right side, as she stepped through the exit. It was as busy of a day as it ever had been in downtown Konohagakure. The streets were flooded with shop owners, and things of that nature, with several locals inhabiting every given corner. A cool breeze blew threw Sayuri's luscious brown hair, leading the woman to run her one free hand through it. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a rather familiar someone, forcing a warm smile to appear on her face. Before long, she Sayuri appeared before Imagawa, who after thoroughly examining the face of her comrade, concluded that something was disturbing him. Placing a generous hand at the side of his face, she greeted him with one of her trademarked warm smiles. "What's the matter, Imagawa?" She questioned, showcasing her pure white teeth, which sparkled like diamonds under the sun. Sayuri seemed to be dressed for success, donning a tight fitted blouse displaying bits of cleavage, as well as a pair of tight fitted blue short shorts to go along with it. The shorts ended, as their name implied, rather high up Sayuri's thighs, allowing the sun to sparkle her shapely thighs. Wrapped up in his own thoughts, Imagawa didn't realize Sayuri was there until she placed a hand on the side of his face. At this he blushed slightly, especially when he took in the rest of her Sayuri's appearance, particularly her luminous blue eyes. For a second he forgot about his troubles, and remembered the crush he had on her. But like a storm cloud, his misgivings returned and his face became depressed once more. Though Ima originally had no intentions of speaking about the options he was looking at, his mouth spoke on its own, pulling a little bit of weight off his shoulders. "I'm thinking about leaving the village," he said finally, gently removing Sayuri's hand from his face before standing up straight. "I don't know what it is, but I feel like something is holding me back as long as I stay here," he continued, before blushing slightly once again. "I mean, sure I'm a respected chunin and all, but look at you and Yuniku, you're both exceptionally powerful users of the EMS, with you having the metal release from your pops and Yuniku carrying the wood. Besides, there's a world beyond these gates that I need to see. Who knows? Maybe I'll find something worthwhile out there, but I won't know until I see it for myself," said Ima. With that, he turned away, his hands stuffed in his pockets, walking towards the boundary that separated Konoha's shinobi from their missing-nin. "Hey!" She called out from behind him, before lowering her head. What's gotten into him all of sudden? She wondered, before giving chase. As he had only been walking, a weak jog was enough to place Sayuri's body before his, preventing him from proceeding any further. "Consider yourself lucky, that you don't have these." She stated, using her middle and index fingers to point towards her eyes. "The Mangekyō Sharingan... it's not something you can unlock merely by trying." She paused, a bit of sorrow lingering in her memory as she recalled the event. "I'd trade these back for the loved one's I've lost any day." "Besides, like you said just mentioned! I'm humbled of your opinion on my status in the village, really I am. But if you truly believe that, then why leave?" She questioned, her hands moving to rest beside her ample hips. "Yuniku and I achieved success by staying here... here in the Hidden Leaf Village." She protested against his thought of leaving, hoping to have persuaded him to stay. As much as she liked Imagawa, it was the thought of the outside world gaining his sharingan that truly bothered Sayuri. Those eyes were significance of the Uchiha clan, who belonged here in the Hidden Leaf. I forgot how fast she is, Imag thought before stopping. "Why would I leave a village that you all had so much success in? Because I'm a traveler, and I refuse to be bogged down by a village that willing stood aside as a wronged people were brutally murdered for desiring the respect they deserved," he pointed to the whole village, "This village was founded by our clan's willingness to cooperate yet the village's people seem to forget the clan was one of the founders," Ima's Sharingan appeared with its full three tomoe. "Therefore I would appreciate it if you got out of my way," Ima said as he sidestepped Sayuri and continued on his way, speeding up in order to put distance between himself and his former home. As a cloud of smoke appeared in front of Sayuri, her eyes widened, and her once light-blue irises took on a dark red persona, with the three tomoe of her sharingan spinning to life. Alerted by the man's shifted presence, Sayuri gave chase. I won't allow for him to get away so easily! She promised herself, flashes of her brilliance as a former ANBU captain fueling her quest. Even with the latter's exceptional use of the Body Flicker Technique, it wasn't long before Sayuri appeared behind him. Leaping from branch to branch, Sayuri tried once more to persuade her ally. "Imagawa!" She called out from behind him, the sound of her body gaining speed emitting from behind. Leaves were ripped from their trees as she passed behind him, as a further testament to the woman's exquisite speed. "We're already outside the village... don't make me do this!" She gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowing through anger. The thought of the sharingan in the hands of the enemy flashing furiously through her mind. A green chakra suddenly emitted from her body, forming a rib cage around it. Two skeletal arms appeared, each taking a life of it's own. With one arm, Sayuri quickly reached forward, with the intent of grasping the fleeing shinobi by wrapping all it's fingers around his body. The arm's size in conjunction with it's speed made it difficult to dodge, having prepared itself in the case of another Body flicker escaping method. Imagawa noticed that Sayuri continued to pursue him, intent on bringing him back to the Konoha fold. A small part of him loved her for that, but the rest considered her to be doing nothing more than inhibiting his progress. It was at that point that he noticed a green hand attempting to wrap around him. "Shit...." he thought, "we've gotten to that point already?" Knowing just how fast Sayuri's Susanoo could be, he decided to drop from the branches, allowing the arms to skim just overhead as he landed safely on the ground. From there he continued running before stopping to turn around and release a large amount of flames towards Sayuri. "Don't make me do something I'll regret doing!" Ima said as he pulled out some kunai and shuriken. He went back to running, internalizing his chakra directing most of it to his feet in order to give himself a large boost over the normal speed tech. "I can't fight her directly," he thought, "I don't have the power or the tools to deal with that Susanoo of hers. All I can do is hope to outrun her until I reach the border of Grass Country, hopefully I can lose her in that dense forest..." Taking two of the kunai, he attached explosive tags to them before throwing them at the next tree branch that Sayuri was about to step on. "Hopefully that will give me some time," he thought, wishing it had been some nameless Konoha-nin that came after him, not the girl he had a crush on. Watching the actions as they enfolded before her, Sayuri examined the situation thoroughly with the use of her Sharingan. The hand of the susano'o that had swung previously at it's prey sprouted upward, extending it's palm at a 90 degree angle. A single dart, barely the size of an average fingernail fired from the center, cutting through the trees with immense speed. The dart, being as small as it was, and the fact that it was a projectile on it's own accord, passed the fleeing shinobi with ease. However, the dart was several feet above, though it was not intended to harm in anyway, shape or form. Each and every one of Sayuri's metallic creations contained her unique formula, allowing her to transport herself towards it instantly. As the dart passed over Imagawa, Sayuri suddenly vanished, as the explosive tags created an abrupt explosion. She then reappeared in the sky, and slowly began to fall. As she fell, the rib cage grew in size, with her Susanoo sprouting legs, that landed on the earth with a powerful thud. As the susanoo manifested it's final form, trees were torn from their roots. A set of armor engulfed the entire humanoid figure, standing mere feet away from Imagawa. The time for talking had passed long ago. For Sayuri, the time to take initiative was all that remained. Four powerful canons sprouted from the back of the beast, all taking aim at Imagawa as he continued to rush forward. The susanoo easily towered above the trees, hanging several hundreds of feet in the air. From the point of view of the boy, it would've almost seemed as though the head was surrounded by clouds. Using the very environment to process her next technique, the ground began to rumble. It wasn't long before a metallic arm emitted from the ground, attempting to quickly snatch the man from behind. She had no intention of killing her childhood friend, though if she had to take him by force, so be it. "Shit..." Ima said again. He knew his odds of moving on from the village had just decreased significantly, particularly when she vanished and reappeared with a fully stabilized final Susanoo. With a metallic hand attempting to grab him quickly from behind, Ima knew he had seconds to evaluate his limited options. A genjutsu at this point would be moot, it was something he would have had to do earlier. Using kunai and shuriken against a Susanoo? Very bad idea, and it just might get him killed. Talking? Talking time was over. As for normal flames, they would be pointless, especially against that armor. Turning around and facing the rapidly approaching metal hand, Ima jumped, landing on the hand and using it as a spring board to help him gain height. He didn't want to use that tech just yet. Though he had originally crossed it off, he knew it was his only shot to get her off his tail for a extended amount of time. As he jumped from treetop to tree top, continuing to gain height, he decided to use his Body Flicker one more time, in an attempt to gain altitude. Noting the firing cannons with his Sharingan, he waited until he was level with the Susanoo's head to push forward and grab onto part of the Susanoo's beak. Jumping on to the top of the Susanoo's beak, he ran towards the part where Sayuri was located, forcing the cannons to try to turn inward in order to continue attacking him. "You need to let me go..." Ima said as he somersaulted just over Sayuri's head, locking eyes with her for just a second before sliding down the Susanoo's back. The chakra cloak he found difficult to navigate as it wasn't solid, and he couldn't concentrate as he continuously avoided cannon shots on his way down. Touching down once more, he continued running, using all of his senses to avoid shot after shot that came down behind him. "How much further to the border?" he thought, unable to tell if he was going the right way. With every step Imagawa was allowing that much more anger to fill Sayuri's heart. She trusted him, more so then he may have ever came to know. However, a feeling shinobi as he now was, he would be foreseen as a missing-nin, a traitor to their village. "I can't allow for this go any further!" Sayuri declared, the canon's taking their aim at Imagawa once again. The projectiles she had chosen to fire beforehand were mere darts, with no purpose, other than inflicting mere wounds. The next set of ammunition was deemed impossible to evade. A set of flames that would never extinguish, able to consume and engulf even the most powerful of fire based techniques. Sayuri's Susano'o covered itself in a thick, coating of metallic armor. The metal formed intensively fast, credit to the environment. The beast then ignited into a set of black flames, wearing them like a coat. Every inch of the beast covered itself in the black flames, before initiating another attack. The Susano'o flung forward, at such blinding speeds, one would question how such a large set of mass could move so quickly. The movement brought along by the beast forced a large gust of wind, tearing apart trees from behind. The forest that Sayuri had once come to love was slowly turning into a barren wasteland. Tree by tree was cleared, as the Susano'o sprouted a set of metallic wings, beating so powerfully that they ignited the black forest fire upon birth. The fire spread along at an impressive rate, spreading to the very trees Imagawa was using to travel. The Susano'o's wings only beat faster and faster with every given second. The canon's took their aim at their moving target. They then fired, all at once. A stream of black flames emitted from each canon, all aiming for different locations. One aimed behind the traveling shinobi, one to his right, another to his left, and the last one, aimed in the very next spot he would land. The flames appeared almost instantly, one after another. They kept on firing from the canons, similar to a fully automatic gun. There was no such end to them. The flames had never once been evaded on normal terms, and wielded by a marksman of Sayuri's caliber, the target's hopes of evading them were slim at most. Known to consume anything and everything, anything the boy planned on covering himself in, any form of defense was ready to be crippled. Mere Body Flickers wouldn't be fast enough to surpass such a blinding rate of speed. Only the Raikage, A, had ever truly evaded the blasts, though he had evaded the flames when they had come from a single eye. With Sayuri's canon's supplying the flames, the hopes of Imagawa's survival appeared dim. Ima turned and stopped. His subconscious knew the game was up, for very few (one to be exact) had been able to avoid the flames, and it wasn't Ima had the Flying Thunder God to save himself. However, his stubborn drive for adventure and to separate himself from the village (at least temporarily) refused to be extinguished by those flames. The time for it had come. He calmly stood as the hell-fire made its way towards him, before wrapping itself around his body. The fire did not harm him though, as he placed his mind and body as one, activating one of the holy gifts bestowed upon him. It was the one technique he had truly mastered, and with it earned his chuunin rank. He made the dragon hand seal, no longer running away from Sayuri's Susanoo. 1.2..3...4....5.....With each passing second, the forest fire initiated by Sayuri's recklessness grew hotter, fanned by Ima's firepower. Trees that were not on fire soon caught fire themselves, as temperatures crept to levels commonly associated with deserts. The very moisture itself was taken out of the air, causing vast quantities of steam to appear, before being sucked dry themselves. Still the temperature climbed, to levels deemed unbearable by shinobi outside of the Land of Wind. It was 200 degrees if not hotter, yet only 30 seconds at most had passed. The very air itself had become a dangerous weapon, and as the massive Susanoo beat its wings, Ima snapped his fingers. Combustion after combustion assaulted Sayuri's Susanoo, with each moving piece of air dealing a hefty blow as Ima forced it to combust. Sayuri's hell-fire continued to surround Ima, lending him the appearance of the Angel of Destruction, with fire lighting the planes of his face. "I must finish this quickly," Ima thought, as he felt his chakra levels slowly depleting. With a raising motion of his hand, he drove the temperatures even further, turning the immediate area into an oven that dehydrated anything it touched, including the very air itself, causing it to combust rapidly without moisture and other pieces sustaining it. Ima than consolidated this baking air around Sayuri's Susanoo, forming it with the precision of an artisan. He knew this very air could cause Sayuri to become extremely dehydrated, do to the stress and physical her body took in carrying itself around. Adding the weight and the effort it took to sustain the Susanoo, he knew the 260+ degree temperatures should do the trick in slowing her down. In case she tried anything funny, he widened the scope of the baking air, decreasing its potency every so slightly. "Hmm...." he thought as his chakra levels sunk ever lower, to a level dreadfully close to zero. With that, he fell, face palming into the ground, his flames that protected him extinguished. I shouldn't have done all of that training he thought as the world faded to black. With the flames from hell burning as hot as the sun, they protected Sayuri and her susano'o from anyharm, whilst engulfing the incoming attack. In a sharp second, the forest exploded into a vast festival of black flames, subduing the fallen man's attack entirely. Acting quickly, Sayuri distinguished the flames, dealing unbearable stress to her body. "Gwah!" Sayuri's mouth was forced open, coughing up a substantial amount of blood, spilling from the sky where she floated, onto the barren wasteland created as a result of the black forest fire. Sayuri's susano'o vanished, allowing the woman to fall gently to the ground, only a short distance away from the fallen Imagawa. She rose to her feet, the sound of her shinobi sandals tapping against the dirt of the wasteland as she made her way towards his body. Blood spilled from both her eyes, forcing her to hold onto her head in order to keep her composure. "Darn.. all those flames... really know how ta give a woman a headache.." She muttered, as she squatted down, flipping Imagawa's body. The flames had managed to tear apart his clothing in every which way, though his body, as surprising as it may have seemed, fail to show any recognition. To put into simpler terms, there was no burns from the flames, creating suspicion within Sayuri's mind. Is he immune to the flames? She wondered to herself, running her fingers along his eyelids, forcing them open. Taking her time, she carefully ripped his eyes out of his sockets, promising to return them should he be able to prove his loyalty to the Hidden Leaf. Further more, she inserted a microscopic metallic tack down his throat, which made it's way into the boy's bloodstream. The tack incinerated, enriching the boy's body with a heavy dose or iron. This served two purposes, allowing the body a quickened recovery, while at the same time containing Sayuri's secret formula, which would allow her to teleport to Imagawa instantly, where ever he may be. There was no way to sense this, however, as it had spread throughout his entire body. The only way to get rid of it, would be to extract it from his blood, though this proved as a difficult task, as it had spread throughout his entire body. Concealing his eyes within a container she so playfully lugged around with her, she instead implanted a new pair of eyes, one which did not possess the ability to form into a sharingan. There was no noticeable difference in chakra of the eyes, the only difference was that the boy would not be able to acquire or use his sharingan, at least not without the eyes who were born with a member of the Uchiha clan. She lifted his body over her shoulder, transporting herself along with him to the local infirmary of Konohagakure. "Sayuri-sama?!" Cried one of the medics upon her arrival. Sayuri dusted him off, laying her fallen comrade down onto the bed. "I'm fine, focus on him. I've healed a better part of his injuries... though you may want to run a full scan." Sayuri advised, exiting the room. She knew deep down, that even the doctors wouldn't be able to find the extra hints of iron throughout his bloodstream. She was the only one who knew of it, and the only one aware of it's presence. Darkness fell on the village of Konohagakure. Several ANBU shinobi stood alert, spread throughout the hospital. A member of the ANBU standing against the outside entrance, a member of the ANBU standing on the inside entrance, another in the same room staring down at the sleeping Imagawa, one outside of the window, standing with his feet glued to the wall, and several others, waiting in the hall way. Sayuri had called for a full squadron, to ensure the boy did not try to flee again. Ima woke up, slowly at first, than all at once to find himself lying in a hospital bed. He jerked up quickly, only to find himself attached to a couple of IVs, and one or two masked shinobi watching him. "Wait how did I...." he thought until the memories came flooding back of the confrontation, the fire, and worst of all, losing. "Shit," he thought, "I must have used more of my chakra reserves than I thought...still, how come she brought me back to the hospital? I was fine, all I needed was to eat and recuperate," As he sat up in the bed, he noted that the masked shinobi drew their tantos. "What are you doing here, babysitting me?" he said, to which he received no response. Having a feeling there were more ANBU waiting in the wings, he decided to activate his Sharingan. Nothing happened. "I can't be that depleted still," Ima thought, as he looked out his window. The sun had gone down hours ago, and the moon had risen to its fullest, signifying several hours had passed since he went down. Ima tried to activate it again, still nothing happened. At this point, he started to feel annoyed. "How come it isn't working?" he thought as he tried over and over again. He stood up, motioning to the ANBU that he wasn't going anywhere. He looked in the mirror, noting that his eyes were still the same onyx color, but something just didn't feel right. It was a feeling in his gut that turned to anger as he realized why something felt off and why his sharingan wasn't working. "She didn't...." Ima said slowly, his voice like ice breaking off a glacier low as he pressed his hand against his eyes, eyes that weren't his own. Fire started to gather around him, a heat that soon reached searing levels, melting the mirror he was looking at. He slowly walked away from the mirror, facing the two ANBU who stared back at him. They didn't stand a chance. The holy fire he was gifted with soon drained the room of all its moisture, causing the ANBU to collapse. One kick, two kicks, and both of their heads lolled, necks broken from contact with his foot. Hearing the commotion, the other ANBU came quickly, only to meet a get a face full of fire, leaving their charred remains in the door. That job done, he scaled to the window, getting into a scuffle with the ninja on the wall before subduing him. Jumping out the window, he nearly collided with ANBU stationed outside, but he threw a pebble at her before taking her out with a roundhouse kick. "To think I would have to rely on my taijutsu..." Ima commented, still seething from losing his Sharingan. He quickly checked the perimeter for any nearby ANBU. Finding none, he continued on his way out of the hospital compound and out of the village. Just for fun though, he snapped his fingers, causing the Konoha gates to combust. "Goodbye Konoha, good-bye Sharingan stealer...." Ima said, the rage barely audible in his voice. The betrayal of the one he loved had brought about the all too familiar three tomoe; the Sharingan was his once more. Category:Great's Play of Words